Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a positioning system for a vessel.
Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
US2009/0043436A1 discloses an automatic vessel position holding control method for holding a vessel position and a vessel heading of a vessel on the ocean. This method reduces a positional deviation and a heading deviation sharply, as compared with the conventional automatic vessel position holding control, by performing feedforward control for estimating and then compensating at least one of a wave drifting force and a wave drifting moment that act on the vessel. A vessel position holding control is performed that includes such controls as estimating waves entering the vessel from the motion thereof, calculating at least one of the wave drifting force and the wave drifting moment from the estimated waves, and performing feedforward control for at least one of the calculated wave drifting force and the calculated wave drifting moment.
US2010/0088030A1 discloses an improved architecture for integrating an inertial navigation system (INS) into a dynamic positioning (DP) system for a vessel. The architecture includes an INS unit and a DP system having a Kalman filter or other algorithm for combining data supplied by a plurality of position measuring equipment (PME) and the INS unit to derive an estimate of the position or speed of the vessel.
US2009/0018774A1 discloses COTS devices integrated into a system employing custom software and custom hardware and software interfaces to collect and communicate data concerning current flows around a fixed structure (e.g., inland locks, bridges, harbor structures, etc.) in various bodies of water (e.g., inland waterways, harbors, canals, etc.). Embodiments comprise: sensors and communications equipment, for example, wireless systems that transmit sensor data to a lock house; lock house communications equipment that receives sensor data; a processor, e.g., a personal computer, with installed custom software and interface for processing data; an Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder interfaced to the processor; an AIS installed in vessels to include an electronic vector chart display, such as may be installed in a towboat pilothouse; and an optional web-based database application for lock operators to record dam operation scenarios that may be used in research, investigations, and the like.